Enhanced entropy generation and heat transfer characteristics of magnetic nano-encapsulated phase change materials in latent heat thermal energy storage systems

The objective of the current study is to investigate the importance of entropy generation and thermal radiation on the patterns of velocity,isentropic lines,and temperature contours within a thermal energy storage device filled with magnetic nanoencapsulated phase change materials(NEPCMs).The versatile finite element method(FEM)is implemented to numerically solve the governing equations.The effects of various parameters,including the viscosity parameter,ranging from 1 to 3,the thermal conductivity parameter,ranging from 1 to 3,the Rayleigh parameter,ranging from 102 to 3×10^(2),the radiation number,ranging from 0.1 to 0.5,the fusion temperature,ranging from 1.0 to 1.2,the volume fraction of NEPCMs,ranging from 2%to 6%,the Stefan number,ranging from 1 to 5,the magnetic number,ranging from 0.1 to 0.5,and the irreversibility parameter,ranging from 0.1 to 0.5,are examined in detail on the temperature contours,isentropic lines,heat capacity ratio,and velocity fields.Furthermore,the heat transfer rates at both the cold and hot walls are analyzed,and the findings are presented graphically.The results indicate that the time taken by the NEPCMs to transition from solid to liquid is prolonged inside the chamber region as the fusion temperatureθf increases.Additionally,the contours of the heat capacity ratio Cr decrease with the increase in the Stefan number Ste.

SEMI-SOLID MICROSTRUCTURE AND ITS EVOLUTION OF WROUGHT ALUMINUM ALLOY BY DIRECTLYHEATING-ISOTHERMAL TREATMENT

Microstructure evolution of wrought aluminum alloy extruded rods and the mechanism of liquid phase formation during reheating were investigated. And the relation between the volume fraction of liquid phase and the recrystallization microstructure was proposed. The results show that increase in reheating temperature and time can augment the volume fraction of liquid phase and accelerate the grain spheroidization, as a result of which the requirement of semi-solid forming can be satisfied. Due to the higher aberration energy of grain boundary, the melting point is lowered as a result of the easy diffusion of atoms. At higher reheating temperature the grain boundary melts, the growth of the recrystallized grain is inhibited and the grain is refined. The composition of the low melt-point phase along the recrystallized grains was determined using EDS. It can be seen from the experimental results that when the extrusion rod of the wrought aluminum alloy is reheated at 610℃ for 20min, perfect fine equiaxial grains can be obtained, the average grain size is about 66.34μm and the volume fraction of solid phase is about 68%.

Toward an understanding of dwell fatigue damage mechanism of bimodal Ti-6Al-4V alloys

Dwell fatigue effect is a long-standing problem threatening the long-term service reliability for fan blades and fan disks of an aircraft engine.To understand the basic mechanism of dwell fatigue damage,pure fatigue and 60 s dwell fatigue properties of bimodal Ti-6Al-4V alloys with different volume fractions of the primaryα(α_(p))phase were examined comparatively.The results showed that both pure fatigue and dwell fatigue life decreased with increasing the volume fraction of theα_(p)phase and the dwell fatigue life was lower than the pure fatigue one.The quasi-in-situ test results and the quantitative characterization of damage behaviors of the local microstructure units defined by theα_(p)-secondaryα(α_(s))combination reveal that theα_(s)phase close to theα_(p)phase with extensively slip activities was gradually damaged under dwell fatigue loading,while that under pure fatigue loading was undamaged,demonstrating that the dwell loading induced the damage of theα_(s)phase,and further reduced the fatigue life.A stress relaxation-based model is proposed to describe the physical mechanism on dwell fatigue damage of the bimodal Ti-6Al-4V alloy,i.e.the elastic deformation of theα_(s)phase caused by the strain incompatibility would be gradually transformed into plastic deformation during the dwell stage,and thus promotes fatigue damage.The model provides new insights into the microscopic process of stress/strain transfer between the soft and hard microstructure units under dwell fatigue loading.